STEVE BRUCE starts work at Sunderland this week aiming to make a £20m breakthrough in the transfer market with Darren Bent, Richard Dunne and Lee Cattermole in the manager’s sights.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Bent has been deemed surplus to requirements by Harry Redknapp but the clubs are thought to be some way off agreeing a deal for the 25-year-old who moved to White Hart Lane for £16.5m two years ago.

Sunderland are prepared to offer a little over half that for the former Charlton marksman who has struggled to justify his price tag; scoring at a rate of around once every three matches for Spurs.

Redknapp is believed to be holding out for a fee closer to £12m to fund his own summer rebuilding programme with Sunderland target Dunne and Newcastle’s Sebastien Bassong on his wanted list.

Stoke City are also interested in Dunne, but Sunderland are confident of landing the Republic of Ireland international.

The Black Cats are looking to take advantage of Spurs’ need to trim their squad and have identified Bent for whom they made an enquiry in January.

Bent’s 12 Premier League goals made him Tottenham’s top scorer last season and Sunderland watched him several times, compiling a dossier that included character references.

Niall Quinn, Sunderland chairman, is determined to avoid a repeat of previous blunders in the transfer market when the likes of Djibril Cisse, El Hadji Diouf and Pascal Chimbonda all failed to gel with their team-mates.

Wigan midfielder Cattermole lines up for England U21s this evening and the Teessider, who enjoyed the most productive spell of his career under Bruce, was asked if he was sad to see the manager leave the Latics.

“Yes definitely,” he admitted.

“I had a good year last year and he brought me to Wigan so it is a bit of a shame, but that’s football.

“I obviously really enjoyed last year and there’s a lot of changes at Wigan, I think we have lost our manager and our staff now.

“I’m going to concentrate on this tournament and get back and see what the situation is with Wigan and meet the new manager and see how it goes.’’ Cattermole joined Wigan from Boro for £3.5m last summer but would cost Sunderland double that amount.